In print we’ll meet again

I’ll always remember the first words I heard when I moved to Fort St John: “I hope you stick around longer than six months.”

It was the tail end of summer 2013 and I had just moved from Winnipeg to write for the Alaska Highway News. I wasn’t sure how to respond to the mayor but I certainly didn’t want to disappoint and tell her I wasn’t planning to stay much longer than that at all. A year at most before moving on to another exotic rural locale. This so-called land of new totems was to be just my first stop on a travel across the country to write for small town papers before planting roots.

I soon learned there were many others here like me; the one year types whose plan went sideways and found themselves here for five years, ten years, some even the rest of their lives. “Once you drink the water of the Peace River you will always come back,” Larry Evans would tell me, and, “If I can’t find it north of the Peace River then I don’t need it.”

What happened to the trees?

Caribou and the 30 by 30 agenda

Third in a six-part series

By Evan Saugstad

Canfor is closing its sawmill and pellet plant in Chetwynd and pulp mill in Taylor. The reasons given relate to the lack of fibre supply to keep all their facilities operational. The plans are to use the Chetwynd wood supply to help with the sustainability of their Fort St. John and Prince George facilities. Last week, I wrote about how appurtenancy, the mountain pine beetle, and changing government regulations all shaped Canfor’s decision-making process. This week, what happened to those trees?

In the 1990s, B.C. experienced a mountain pine beetle epidemic. It began west of Prince George and spread rapidly across the province. The subsequent increase in the pine harvested left everyone with the knowledge there would be future impacts with reduced harvest levels and some facility closures. Initial thoughts were that beetle would be stopped by the Rocky Mountains and not affect B.C.’s northeast. No such luck. Over top they flew, arriving in force.

It was thought the impacts to the northeast would be less than the B.C. interior, as about 30% of our forests are pine. Cut the infected pine stands first and leave the spruce/balsam stands for the future when the pine was gone, or severely reduced. That was the plan for both the Dawson Creek and Fort St. John Forest areas. Canfor retooled its Chetwynd mill to handle a larger volume of pine (generally smaller diameter than spruce) and set about harvesting pine with the goal of moving back to spruce forests when done. It was forecast there would be some negative impacts from the pine overcut but would be manageable with minimal disruptions.

Canfor Chetwynd relies predominately on Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 48 for its timber supply.

A TFL is a land-based tenure where one licence manages the timber resources, versus a Timber Supply Area (TSA), where the government (Ministry of Forests) manages timber supply and may have multiple licensees.

Canfor obtained TFL 48 in 1988 and renewed in 2017 for another 25 years. In 2015, Canfor completed a new timber supply analysis for TFL 48 post pine beetle era.

To allow for the expedited harvest of affected beetle stands, the Annual Allowable cut (AAC) for coniferous forests (softwood) increased from 700,000 cubic meters to 1,450,000 cubic meters per year for the next five years. In 2020, the AAC would then decrease to 771,000m3 to address pine overcut. Of note, 100,000 cubic meters of hardwood can also be harvested annually and that didn’t change as those stands were not affected by the beetle.

Generally, this worked.

The predominantly pine stands were harvested and, as they wrapped up, Canfor began to move back into the spruce/ balsam stands, many of which are in the Rocky Mountain foothills, which coincidentally, are in or near areas where mountain caribou live, or used to live. Then came the caribou edicts of 2018 and 2019.

Section 11 Partnership Agreement

The Federal government said we (everyone) must do more to protect mountain caribou. Caribou were in danger of extirpation and needed to be saved. The B.C. government agreed, and both set about crafting a plan with two local First Nations, Saulteau and West Moberly. The result was the creation of a Section 11 Partnership Agreement Intergovernmental partnership agreement.

The Agreement was negotiated “behind closed doors” with only the Federal, Provincial, and two First Nation governments involved. All other communities, licence holders, and stakeholders were excluded from meaningful participation or input. Comments were invited post approval.

The Agreement created a new park that excluded all harvesting for a large part of TFL 48. Significant other areas had deferrals or constraints imposed that limited harvesting, with rules to follow within six months. As of today, these new “operat- ing guidelines” remain outstanding, with no forest company knowing what they are or are not allowed to do, resulting in few, if any, new cutting permits being issued for these areas.

It’s estimated that this new park land removed about 100,000m3 of AAC from TFL 48. It’s not yet known what effect the constrained areas will have on both TFL and other licensees within the TSA.

30 by 30

In 2022, Premier David Eby committed to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity “30 by 30” objective. Thirty per cent of B.C. will become parks and off limits to development by 2030. About 15% of B.C. is currently considered as parks. Included in this announcement was that Indigenous Peoples and their communities will also be able to identify “Indigenous protected areas.”

It’s not yet known how much new area of northeast B.C. will be added to B.C.’s parklands. But if history is any indicator, northern B.C. will once again be subject to most additions as this is where public lands have the fewest constraints.

Next week, Part 4, a continued look at what happened to the trees: wildfire, old growth management, and Yahey versus B.C.

Larry was one of the first friends I made in those early days and there’s a lot of truth to what he said. It’s going on ten years now and boy does time sure know how to take 365 days and turn them into 3,500. That’s why it’s bittersweet to say this column and edition are my last as Managing Editor of the News. A new opportunity calls me back to the Gateway to the West, though the Peace River country will now always be my home too.

I owe my success and gratitude first to the publisher William Julian, who gave me a chance at 27 to edit such an illustrious newspaper, and aspire to the greatness of its founder, Ma Murray, glaring typos and all. Such opportunity doesn’t come often, if at all, to young people in big cities.

Second, our award winning success couldn’t have been done without a talented staff, many who were working here when I was a toddler learning to talk. My appreciation, admiration, and thanks to all the contributing writers and photographers who have shared their stories and talents with us over the years because they believed in our editorial mission. Their creative, passionate, and hard work has been the lifeblood of this newspaper.

Lastly, my deep gratitude and respect to the readers of this newspaper, who have supported us, challenged us, and inspired us to be better. Your feedback, letters, emails, and calls have helped us to shape our coverage and to better understand the needs and concerns of this community. I have always been struck by the passion of the people of Fort St John, and I am grateful for the many ways that you all have enriched my life and the life of this newspaper. It has been an honour to be a part of this vibrant, dynamic community, and I will always be proud to call and count myself among its members. Thank you for your support, your kindness, and all the history we have written together.

End of an era

A decade of news and stories

A farewell today

My pen’s not dry yet

In print we will meet again

Each day a new page

Ye Ed, Matt Preprost

Fort St John, BC

April 14, 2023

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Ask Miss Patti: Social Story an unknown tool for parenting

Dear Miss Patti,

My 5 year old is an anxious little girl and we are about to go to our first dentist appointment. I’m worried about how this is going to go. Any advice?

—Dental Anxiety

Dear Dental Anxiety, I was once given life changing advice from a nurse working in Vancouver’s Children’s Hospital. I was always so concerned about what other people were thinking about my parenting. She told me to learn to tune out everyone else and focus on my child and what was happening in front of me. I knew my child, I knew what I was doing, have faith in that.

So, the first time I brought my own anxious child to the dentist, I could tell he was nervous. When the dentist asked him to get on the chair, he froze. I got down to his level and spoke to him as if no one else was in the room. I ignored the hygienist holding the bib, waiting on us. I ignored the dentist who I knew was on a timeline.

I told my son, “We really need to have your teeth looked at to make sure they are healthy. This is important and non-negotiable, but I’m okay if you can’t do this today and we can book for another day. It’s up to you.” I could see his little shoulders drop and a big sigh came from him. Surprisingly to me, he got up on the chair. I allowed him to make the decision and I gave him my undivided attention as well as remained calm and confident.

Bear Flat Dispatch: Spring has sprung

By Ken Boon

I

But enough farmer talk; it just feels good to see the end of winter for another year. I don’t know if it is just me, but I do seem to hear more local people making

By John Grady

Is there anything we can learn from the teaching of Jesus that either draws us to Him or, conversely, causes us to desert Him and ultimately turn our back on Him?

Was His teaching flexible, too rigid, non-compromising, not understood, misunderstood, too complicated, too convicting?

Or, is it that His followers 2,000 years ago and those of us 2,000 years later just don’t get it?

When you go to school reunions, the subject of which teacher’s methods were good, bad, or ugh ultimately comes up. It’s most interesting to hear the dialogue from the “experts” (the former students) as we don’t offer our shortcomings as students but always the teachers. It doesn’t take long to get the don’t want to jinx anything, but it should be safe to say that spring is here. What is most amazing this year is how the snow melt mostly went straight into the ground with very little run-off. The ground was fairly dry when winter hit, and that combined with little frost definitely helped to soak up the water. I imagine some farmers might want to see a wet snow event happen yet just to keep the ground from drying out too much before the temperatures allow for seeding.the comment how “winters are just a little too long”. We are blessed with four distinct seasons here in the Peace, but winter definitely is the longest one. Chinooks can help by blowing in a breath of fresh warm air and giving a break of sorts, although they can create their own problems too. Overall, I would say this past winter was fairly decent without too many extremes. Still, five months of winter does help us appreciate the other three seasons.

Unfortunately, this spring will see the departure of our long serving editor of the Alaska Highway News. Matt Preprost will be moving on for now to another job posting. However, he has grown enough roots locally that hopefully we may see him conversations into the personalities of the teachers, where they came from, their university education, their popularity, and how they treated the students.

As we know, Jesus started His Ministry when He was 30 years of age. He was born in Bethlehem, had an early childhood in Egypt, and was raised as a carpenter’s son in Nazareth, located in the region called Galilee. Jesus became known as a Galilean and taught in their synagogues. It was, however, on a Sabbath in Nazareth in the synagogue that He identified who He was, His credentials, calling and purpose in a most unusual, unique way when He was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He turned to where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me because He has anointed me to preach good back here in one capacity or another.

Matt did a good job with the limited resources available to run our local paper. Among other things, he did his best to encourage local folks to write opinion columns such as this, and that has resulted in a wide diversity of ideas and views being put forth by different people all in one newspaper. I think that is important in this day and age, where there is so much division. We see where people often go “tribal” by only following a source of information that aligns to their personal views. In contrast, the Alaska Highway News pretty much follows the old tradition of being a one stop shop of general regional news and diverse opinion that helps to keep our people news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

As we know, Jesus brought together His disciples, performed miracles, was always teaching God’s truth, and drew followers after Him. His ministry expanded when He took five small barley loaves and two small fish, gave thanks, and fed a crowd of 5,000 with ample left over. He used this illustration as part of His teaching. He followed that up by walking on water to join His disciples in their boat, returning to Capernaum and shared from the synagogue. The crowd of followers had many questions, but Jesus did not compromise or sugar coat His answers or His teach- informed and connected somewhat.

However, I fear that the Alaska Highway News is a local treasure that perhaps many folks don’t appreciate enough. I know nothing about the financial business case for small local newspapers in this new era of endless sources of information availability, but I do think the Alaska Highway News is too important to this region to fail. It is noteworthy that this year marks 80 years of continuous operation for our historic local paper, and hopefully it continues with many more years of community service.

Ken Boon lives and writes at Bear Flat

Looking back, I would have done a few more things. I would have created something called a ‘social story’, where you can create a personalized story about an incident unique to your child to walk them through something new and unfamiliar, and making it more familiar through a repeated story. I would also let the dentist know ahead of time about my child’s anxiety. Many dentists are very skilled at dealing with children anxious about the dentist.

—Miss Patti Send your questions to Miss Patti at motherofdragonflies2021@outlook.com